1911. Robinson and Davidson 1913A. Bedford 1920,1926, 1927, 1932B, 

 193^. Du Plessis 1932. Robinson and Coles 1932. Bedford and 

 Coles 1933. Bedford and Graf 193^,1939. Monnig and Coles 1934-, 

 1936,1939,1940. Coles 1933,194-5. Cooley 1934. des Ugneris 

 1939. Mitscherlich 1941. R. du Toit 1942B,C,1947A,B. Gericke 

 sind Coles 1950. Annecke and Quinn 1952). 



OUTIZE'IG I3IAI03 ; MURITIUS (As A. mauritianus : Guerin_ 

 Meneville 1829-1843. Neumann 1911. De Charmoy 1914,1915,1925. 

 Moutia and Mamet 1947). MADAGASCAR (Recorded by Bf&ck 1935,1948A, 

 C,1949. Millot 1948 states that A. persicus does not occur on 

 Madagascar but ^{Ick seems to have~deiinite evidence tnat it does, 

 Hoogstraal 1953E). REUNION (Gillard 1947,1949). SEYCHEUES 

 (Millot 1948). /"ZANZIBAR: ?No records ._7 



ARABIA; YE>EN (Hoogstraal, ms.). 



HOST& 



A. persictis in all stages is chiefly a parasite of chickens. 

 Ducks7 geese, turkeys, and infrequently pigeons, are attacked. 

 This parasite often becomes so numerous in fowl houses that the 

 birds die from exsanguination. Canaries are sometimes attacked, 

 ajid in South Africa young ostrichs have been killed from the voL. 

 urae of blood lost to these ticks. 



Wild birds may be infested if they construct large, nvtmerous, 

 or fairly permajient nests in the vicinity of human activities. 

 The qxiestion of infestation of other wild birds and of mammals is 

 a most uncertain one. Although the fowl argas does parasitize man 

 on occasion, the frequency and fierceness of these attacks have 

 been fancifully exaggerated and enhanced to the point that it might 

 even seem advisable to exterminate Africa's chickens rather than 

 subject mankind on this continent to the scourge of his fowls* 

 argasid parasite. 



Wild bird hosts 



Rookeries of the buff-backed heron, Bubulcu^ ibis ibis , in 

 parks in and near Cairo (Hoogstraal 1952A^ and heron rookeries in 

 South Africa are heavily infested (Theiler, correspondence). In 

 the Nile Barrage Park near Cairo, literally tens of thousands of 



- 62 _ 



